Genesis 11:1-9 "Now the whole earth had one language and the same words..."

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9)

Question:

I had a dream where I heard God tell me to tear down the tower of Babel. What might this mean?

Comment:

The story of the Tower of Babel is one of the great creation myths that begin the Book of Genesis. Like the others, it seems designed to answer one of the basic questions of life—in this case, the question of why there is such diversity in languages and conflict among different peoples. It’s generally understood as a warning against arrogance and excessive ambition, as the Lord God reacts to the people’s decision to work together to build a tower to heaven.

Metaphysically, however, it suggests something else—at least to me. The dispersal of the people into various tribes and locations is really a continuation of the process of creation. We are sometimes tempted to try to escape out of this human experience; but our spiritual imperative is to work within the experience to transform it through our spiritual energy and choices. Uniformity of views and escape from challenges won’t create the new consciousness that Jesus Christ calls “the kingdom of heaven.” That creative process requires diversity and focus on human challenges, not avoidance of them by climbing back to heaven. The Power of God is here doing exactly what it does so often throughout the Bible—lovingly guiding us to stay on course, even if we’ve forgotten for a while just what the course is.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed